Open Letter to Redmond City Council

Dear Editor (King County Journal),

It is clear that Mayor Ives seems to be intent on punishing certain groups of voters for voting “NO” on Proposition 1 last Tuesday. Why else would she desire to wait for the demographics report on the vote to come back unless it was to penalize those who don’t share her luxury view of Redmond city government?

Again, she refuses to get the message of nearly two-thirds of Redmond voters which is: taxes are high enough; find another way to balance the budget.

In the last 10 of her 15 years at Redmond’s helm, the number of city employees has doubled. When the population has only grown 20% in that same stretch, there must be room to trim overhead.

It would seem that nothing short of the Redmond City Council standing up to Mayor Ives’ continued call for “revenue solutions” – a couple of members have already shown marked improvement in the wake of Proposition 1’s defeat – is going to cure Redmond’s fiscal problems. Revenue is not the problem, spending is!

Mayor Ives would do well to engage in the priorities in government exercise that truly scrutinizes expenditures against the city’s stated mission. And maybe the city’s mission is super-sized and should be carefully examined as well? The taxpayers have demanded it and now it’s time for our elected officials to execute on it.

David Carson
Financial Accountability in Redmond
Redmond, WA